Easy Houseplant Care, Houseplant Pest Control, and Motherhood and Plants

Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care

Maria Failla- Happy Plant Lady and Author of Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness

Education, How To, Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Home & Garden, Leisure

4.8 • 883 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you’re a plant lover, you’ve probably come across Chantel, the brilliant mind behind @channygrayhome on Instagram. Over the past few years, she has built a community of over half a million plant enthusiasts. But there’s so much more to her than her incredible follower count.

In this episode, I’ll take you behind the scenes of my chat with Channy—where we talked about her plant history, her love for DIYs, her big move from the Arizona desert to lush Iowa, and how she juggles being a plant mom and a mom to three kids.

In this episode, we learn:

[03:15] How Channy and I met at a Botanical Garden
[07:28] What has Channy’s plant journey been like?
[15:14] Add serenity to your life in 2025 and beat the winter blues with Wind River Chimes!
[16:56] Start your kitchen garden today by grabbing a copy of Kitchen Garden Living by Bailey Van Tassel
[19:10] What does pest prevention mean for Channy?
[21:12] Channy’s new plant soap for pest control!
[23:57] What does a bubble bath for plants look like?
[25:07] How to balance motherhood and plant care
[28:17] Top tips to make plant care easy and fun!
[30:06] Decorating with plant cuttings
[32:03] Lechuza pon vs LECA
[33:54] How did Channy get into DIY projects?
[35:30] Moving to Iowa and preparing for changes
[38:02] What does Channy’s family think of her plant collection?
[40:38] What it feels like to have 500k+ followers
[43:00] What are her future plans for Channy Gray Home?
[44:30] Where can you find Channy on social media?

Mentioned in our conversation:

Growing Joy Ep 240: How to Move with Houseplants with Becca De La Plants
Growing Joy Ep 226: How to Repot Houseplants
Growing Joy Ep 109: Passive Hydroponics 2.0 and the LECA VS PON Debate
Plant Soap by Channy Gray Home
LECHUZA-PON Plant Substrate
LECA

Learn more about Channy's top houseplant care tips,

check out the full show notes and blog here!

Follow Channy Gray Home:

Thank you to our episode sponsors:

Espoma Organic

Visit espoma.com to find your local Espoma dealer or check my Amazon storefront.

Quarto: The Water-Smart Garden by Noelle Johnson

Grab a copy of Kitchen Garden Living at your favorite local bookstore, bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Quarto.com, or Amazon.com to get inspired and grow organically.

Follow Maria and Growing Joy:

Order my book: Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants) by Maria Failla, Illustrated by Samantha Leung

Join the Bloom and Grow Garden Party Community Platform & App AKA the plantiest and kindest corner of the internet! Get your FREE 2-week trial here!

Take the Plant Parent Personality Quiz (Get the perfect plants, projects and educational resources for YOUR Lifestyle)

Support Bloom and Grow Radio by becoming a Plant Friend on Patreon!

Instagram: @growingjoywithmaria

Tiktok: @growingjoywithmaria

Subscribe to the Growing Joy Youtube channel! /growingjoywithmaria

Website: www.growingjoywithmaria.com

Pinterest: @growingjoywithmaria

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I have the greatest plantie present for you. It is the new download that I'm offering called
0:04.8	the Ultimate House Plant Pest Guide. Identify and eliminate the top six house plant pests.
0:10.2	I made this for you because I needed this download last year and I did not have it and I
0:14.5	want to save future pain for you in your future. So last year I had a horrible altercation with
0:20.1	white flies. I saw one little
0:21.9	bug flying around my plants and I ignored it. And a couple days later, I noticed that I had an
0:26.7	enormous swarm of white flies that had taken over my entire shelf of plants. It was miserable.
0:32.2	It took weeks to treat. And it's because I was unprepared. I never want you to be unprepared
0:36.8	when it comes to house plant
0:37.9	pests and winter is the season for them. So I created the ultimate house plant pest guide. It's a free
0:43.0	downloadable 14 page PDF that gives you everything you need to know to protect your plants from
0:49.2	mealybugs, scale, fungus gnats, thrips, spider mites, aphids, whiteflies, and more. It has general pest
0:55.5	control advice, and then it breaks down each pest. It gives you clear photos and teaches you how to
1:00.4	identify them, and then gives you step-by-step guides on how to treat with natural options,
1:05.1	chemical options, and even beneficial insects. It's so good. So go ahead and download it now. It's totally free. You'll learn
1:12.9	immediately from reading it, but you'll also have it for if you ever need to treat for pests,
1:18.0	which sadly it's not if it's when when you care for houseplants. Go to Growingjoywithmaria.com
1:22.5	slash pest and keep your plants thriving pest free and growing joy this winter with your free 14-page
1:29.0	download. That's at Growingjoy with Maria.com slash pest. Your plants will thank you.
1:39.3	So you might have seen my plant friend Chantelle, founder of Channy Gray Home, pop off on Instagram over
1:45.1	the last couple of years, growing her online following of plant lovers to over half a million
1:50.0	on Instagram. But I have known her for quite some time, and I know that there is so much more to her
	...

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